


The Year That Never

by TheOnlyOrigamiDinosaurLeft



Series: The Year That Never and The Year That Was [1]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Gen, M/M, Torchwood's POV, What the team got up to during TYTNW, Year That Never Was
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-10-07
Packaged: 2018-08-14 12:34:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8014195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOnlyOrigamiDinosaurLeft/pseuds/TheOnlyOrigamiDinosaurLeft
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part One of my The Year That Never and The Year That Was series</p><p>Part one takes place during the year that never was but from Torchwood's POV, and part 2 will be set during the months Jack was with the Doctor that the team remember.  </p><p>Lots of spoilers for Doctor Who series 3 episodes 12 + 13<br/>Bit of Jack/Ianto<br/>Lots of team fluff and team family moments</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. When the World Shits on You, Go Take A Shower

The Year That Never

Chapter One: When the world shits on you, Go take a shower

 

 

As Ianto set the 4 cups of steaming coffee on the boardroom table, Owen turned the tele on and snorted.

“New PM guys, can’t wait to have him on the phone every other week asking if we need to be spending the amount of money we happen to be spending.”

Ianto sipped his coffee.

“Why do you care Owen, it’s not like you’re the one who has to give him an answer.”

“And for that I thank you every bloody day mate.”

They chinked their mugs together then turned back to the monitor. Tosh sat strange in her chair.

“What is it Tosh? You look like you’ve sat in some of Gwen’s New Year’s vomit.”

“Ha-bloody-ha.”

Tosh ignored the comments.

“I don’t know Owen… does anyone else think that he just doesn’t… feel right?”

“Who? This Saxon Bloke?” Tosh nodded, Owen grumbled and grabbed a slice of pizza from the box. “Listen Tosh, I wouldn’t worry, he’s a Politian, none of them feel right.”

Tosh shrugged and leaned back in her chair, rubbing her tired eyes. The feeling still niggled in the back of her brain, and she just couldn’t ignore it.

Hours later they were still sat, watching all the coverage for the new PM. Today was the first quiet day since Jack had bolted, and they were enjoying it; all of them finally taking time to catch up on what was happening in the real world. In order to chat and play a few games Tosh had turned the volume on the TV down, so they didn’t hear their new PM’s announcement until Ianto looked up and was shocked still.

“Tosh, turn the sound back on…. Look at that headline –Oh my God.”

They all turned to the screen.

_Harold Saxon to make contact with an extra-terrestrial live on Television tomorrow morning at 8:00am_

The 4 of them were out and into the main hub before the reporter could finish his next sentence. Gwen started shouting orders.

“Owen, ring UNIT, see if they knew. Tosh, get into te government files and see how long they’ve been planning this. Ianto, get on the phone to the new PM and ask him what the _HELL_ he is thinking doing this without a Torchwood and UNIT back up liaison.”

As Owen sat at his computer and picked up the phone he asked Gwen.

“What are you going to do?

“Look at the files, see if we have ever encountered anything called the Toclifane before, and if not, then maybe get an idea of what the hell we are going to be dealing with.”

2 very long hours later, three of the four members of torchwood were back in the boardroom. No one had seen Ianto since he got on the phone with Mr Saxon. The general feeling around all the agencies was that Harold Saxon had gone forward with this with no appreciation for protocol. Not even the US had been notified. Now they just had to wait to hear from the man himself. Ianto slowly walked into the boardroom, holding a tray of coffees and looking rather sheepish. They took their drinks and waited for their youngest member to talk.

“We have orders.”

“What?” Owen said, sitting forward.

“How can we have orders?”

“From who?”

“Harold Saxon himself.”

“What are these _orders_?”

Ianto sat heavily and took a long drink.

“We are being sent to the Himalayas.” That provoked even more questions, Ianto put his hand up wearily. “I don’t know okay, he just said we were to go, immediately. To investigate reports. I said it was UNIT territory and that we didn’t answer directly to the PM or his government so frankly, they could piss off.” Owen nodded approvingly. Ianto shook his head. “That didn’t stop him, we all have flights, tonight at 11. He said if we didn’t go then we would be putting the world at risk and it would be our faults. We’d be shut down and executed for high treason.”

3 scared and shocked faces looked at him, mirroring exactly how he felt.

“So what do we do?” Tosh asked quietly.

“We go. Obviously.” Gwen replied, standing. “We don’t want to get killed.”

Owen shrugged.

“As much as I hate to admit it, I would prefer to spend a week freezing my balls off, you know, rather than be hung by them.”

Gwen nodded her agreement. Tosh and Ianto looked shocked.

“No, we can’t. We can’t just leave the rift un-minded, there is no telling what would happen to Cardiff while we were gone. And this does just seem a little bit too much like a trap.”

“I agree with Tosh, at least 2 of us should stay here.”

Gwen looked at Owen for support.

“I can’t get behind that Ianto. We all have to go. We need to stick together.”

“What about the rift?”

“UNIT can run interference for us, picking up weevils. We will only be gone a week or two. Go home and pack your bags. We are going right now.” No one moved. “That’s an order.”

Shrugging, Owen got up and left, Tosh following slowly. Ianto was still sat, his face the perfect image of shocked and pissed off.

“This is a bad idea Gwen,”

“Think of what could happen if we don’t go Ianto,”

“I am thinking of it. But think of what would happen if we do go, what could happen to Cardiff.”

“Think of the destruction that might Happen Ianto,”

“That’s exactly what I’m thinking of with this frown.”

“You’re frown has been noted, but this is happening. Go pack your bag.”

Ianto scoffed and stormed out of the room. Gwen had to hope she was doing the right thing.

By 6am the next morning they were all sat in a rundown café on a snowy mountain, and as the minutes counted down to 8:00 they watched the tiny TV in anticipation.

The shot fired out and the president of the USA fell back. All 4 leapt forward.

“Oh my god…” Ianto said, taking out his phone and calling UNIT.

Gwen, Owen and Tosh kept watching as Harold Saxon took over the world.

“That’s Jack!” Owen shouted. Ianto’s head swung around.

“Oh god, what’s he doing there?”

They saw him get killed, Tosh’s hands flying to her mouth.

“Who’s the girl?” Owen said, shaking.

“What are we gonna do?”

Saxon gave the order for the Toclifane to descend, and the 4 ran to the window. The skies were splitting in 2 and a swell of black spheres came down. One flew straight into the café. Ianto pushed Tosh and Gwen down and jumped on top of them, Owen hid behind a counter. They heard the waiter being slaughtered, and Ianto blocked his ears, memories of a slaughter house invading his mind.

After the man had died and the sphere had left, Owen and Ianto staggered up to the window and watched as chaos unravelled.

“We have to do something.” Owen stammered.

“What can we do? We’re trapped here, we’re not even in the UK, not near the hub or…. We have to hide.”

“Ianto, what about all those people?”

Ianto shook his head.

“Think about it Owen. There is a reason Saxon sent us out here, he wanted us out the way. He knows we’re close to Jack. He knows we’re here. He knows we’ll be the ones heading up the resistance against him and the Toclifane. We have to hide so that we can help. Save the world quietly for once.”

Owen looked scared, but nodded all the same. He glanced back at the dead man towards the back of the shop.

“Where do we go?”

Ianto scanned the girls, sat on chairs and crying, then smiled weakly at Owen.

“Wherever we can, but we can’t stay here any longer. Come on. Let’s move.”


	2. To Find A Martha Jones

146 days after the president of the United States was killed saw the flaming remains of the torchwood team hiding out in a small northern village. And they were arguing the place down.

“No Ianto, I’m telling you. This is a good idea.”

“No Owen, we have to stick together. We’ve made good here, helped people. We can keep doing that.”

“Who are you kidding Ianto, we’ve stayed here for 4 months and hid like little kids. How are we supposed to end this cooped up here? Back me up Gwen.”

“He’s not wrong Ianto, we really need to find Martha Jones. I’ve been exchanging with some resistance members, they all say that she is leading it up. And she’s seen Jack, she knows where he is.”

“We know where he is. He’s on that ship.”

“Then that’s where we go.”

“Are you mad!? We’ll be killed.”

“Fine. Then we at least have to find Martha Jones.” Ianto scoffed and looked away. “Ianto! She is the key to everything. You’ve heard the chatter form the ship yards, we know she is going to end this.”

Ianto sighed and glanced back at Tosh, she was sat at the table, holding a cup of warm tea. He could still see the dried blood across her leg. Ianto could still remember the sound of her screams as she fell down the icy path they had made. Her leg would take a few weeks to heal.

“I can’t leave Tosh. You two go and find Martha, we will follow when Tosh can move.”

Owen and Gwen stared at Ianto. He had grown up so much in the past few months. He was no longer the passive butler, he was part of the team, had saved their lives any number of times.

The next day Gwen and Owen were packed and ready to go. They had said their goodbyes to Tosh the night before, knowing she would be too weak to wish them well in the morning. Ianto stood by the door to their cabin with a watery smile.

“Find Martha, then if you can, go to this address,” He handed Owen a small scrap of paper. “It’s on the edge of Newport. You should be safe there and we will meet you.”

Gwen grasped Ianto and hugged him tightly.

“Look after yourself Ianto, and Tosh.”

He wiped away a stray tear falling down her cheek.

“I will, this isn’t goodbye Gwen. I’ll be seeing you shortly.”

Gwen kissed his cheek then stepped out of the cabin to leave Owen with Ianto.

The two men shook hands firmly and smiled stiffly.

“Find her.”

“I will.”

“Don’t get killed.”

Owen laughed.

“No promises.”

Ianto shook his head.

“No, promise me that you won’t get killed. Promise me this isn’t goodbye.”

Owen dragged Ianto into a hug, holding him close.

“I promise. You too Ianto, stay safe. Keep _her_ safe.”

Ianto nodded into Owen’s shoulder. They broke apart and smiled.

“See you soon Teaboy, I hope to God you will have some proper coffee for me.”

The younger man laughed and waved to them as they walked down the snowy hill and disappeared into the distance.

*

7 weeks later Tosh was almost ready to get moving from the village. They had set up a kind of command centre for the resistance against the Master, using the small about of Torchwood tech they had to keep tabs on Gwen and Owen.

3 days ago Tosh had lost them somewhere in Spain, to Ianto this meant that they needed to go and find them. To Tosh it meant they were dead.

“Give it until the end of the week before you condemn them please. Owen promised they would be okay.”

Tosh sighed. Ianto was desperate.

“Promises mean nothing in this hell. They’re dead.”

Ianto put his head into his hands.

“Just… give them until the end of the week…”

“…”

“What Tosh?”

“I….”

“Tosh! What is it!?”

She turned the monitor around, showing the headline running along the bottom of the UNIT site.

_Gwen Cooper and Owen Harper of the Torchwood institute in Cardiff have been collected in the south of Spain and will be placed into questioning._

They looked at each other and knew what they had to do.

“We have to finish what they started. We have to find Martha Jones.”


	3. All Gone To Hell, And There Is Nothing You Can Do

7 months ago the people of New York City were a thriving mass of business suits, aspiring actors, dancers, artists… they were enriched with culture and art and joy. But that was 7 months ago. During the year that the Master was in control New York was a hell. Hell on earth. And somehow Ianto Jones and Toshiko Sato were right there in the heart of it.

“God I miss Coffee, what I would give for a sip of coffee.”

Tosh threw a pillow at Ianto.

“Every shitting morning you say the same thing Ianto. Shush. Tosh is working.”

Ianto sat up and rubbed his neck. He glared at Tosh.

“Well you’re always typing away, there isn’t much to do.”

“Keep watch.”

Ianto grumbled. He swung his legs off the sofa and walked to the mirror. His face was bruised and bloodied, his black eye pretty much covered the entire left side of his face. He kicked the lump asleep on the floor.

“Alex! Get up.”

Alex rolled onto his back.

“Easy Ianto… man, I need my beauty sleep.”

Tosh and Ianto had picked up Alex when they found out that he was hiding a bunch of UNIT tech in his New York Flat. He had been a commanding officer back in the good days. But as soon as the President was killed, he went into hiding. Tosh was able to use his equipment and what little they had form Torchwood to create a pretty good computer system that would help them keep tabs on Martha. From her calculations Martha would be on her way to New York within the day.

Alex sat up and clicked his back.

“Well fuck me. Another day. We’re not dead! This deserves a drink! Ianto, get the scotch!”

Ianto smacked Alex on the upside of the head and sipped his water.

“Not today Al, we’re keeping a low profile remember.”

Alex rolled his eyes and started pacing.

“Low profile my skinny arse. Martha isn’t coming man. We’ve been here for a month.”

“And she’ll be here. Right Tosh?”

Tosh didn’t reply, she was typing quickly.

“Ianto….”

Suddenly the window cracked open and tosh grabbed Ianto’s hand and pulled him back. Alex grabbed his gun and aimed it at the opening window.

“Torchwood?” a small voice asked.

“Who wants to know?”

Martha Jones fell through the window and onto the floor.

“Sorry for dropping in like that.”

She stood, and brushed off her trousers.

“You know who I am yes?”

Ianto nodded his head and walked forward slowly.

“Martha Jones?”

“Ianto Jones.”

He smirked and drew her into a crushing hug, before he knew it, the tears were falling down his face. He looked upwards and smiled, thinking of Gwen…. Of Owen.

“I’ve been looking for you guys for months. Jack told me, the last time I saw him, told me to find you. That you would help…”

Tosh looked at Ianto.

“We’ve been tracking you as well. We lost two of our own…”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. We need a plan.”

“Agreed.”

“What do you need?” Ianto asked Martha.

“A ride to the south coast.”

“Of America?”

“Yep.”

“That’s impossible.”

Martha turned and slowly smiled at the younger man.

“If I had believed every person who had said that to me… I’d be dead by now.”

Just as they began to plan a loud crash echoed throughout the room, Ianto and Tosh knew it for what it was.

“Martha you have to get out of here.”

“What? Why?”

“TORCHWOOD. COME WITH US. THE REST OF YOU WILL DIE. TORCHWOOD. COME WITH US. THE REST OF YOU WILL DIE.”

Alex pushed Martha out of the room and into a stairwell.

“Leave out of the 4th floor exit, and onto the high street. Go to number 11 in the building across the street.”

And with that he was gone. She heard a scream and knew he was dead.

The next thing Ianto Jones knew, he was standing in a room made of metal and two guards were holding his arms tightly behind him. He looked to his left, seeing Tosh bound in the same position.

“Where the hell are we?” Ianto demanded, the guard laughed.

“The Valliant. In presence of your lord and master.”

Toshiko had started crying, Ianto felt an anger fill him that he had never known. He pushed and shoved the guards, trying to break free of their hold. A third guard who had been holding Tosh came to hold his neck down.

“Tosh! Get away! Get out!”

He continued to scrabble for a purchase or leverage, but with no success. He heard Tosh scream.

“Come on lively. This way.”

Tosh was being dragged away in a different direction.

“Ianto! Oh my God Ianto!”

“Bring her back!” He screamed to the guards. “You… You bastards! Bring her back”

She was gone.

Ianto was pulled along the grates. He lost all sense of time and direction. Eventually a door opened and he was pushed inside. As soon as the hands were off him he turned to fight back, but the guards were gone.

He sighed heavily, voice breaking in pain, for himself and for Tosh.

Suddenly a terrible sound greeted him. A terrible familiar sound.

“Ianto?”


	4. Last Goodbyes

Ianto closed his eyes, a mission memories swimming through his head. Slowly he began to turn around, and what he saw made his breath catch in his throat.

“J… Jack?”

Jack Harkness was there, chained and bound, clothes hanging from him. His face was forced into a dismal smile and his eyes were streaming tears.

“Ianto… I…”

Ianto staggered to him, dragging his body. He touched his face.

“It’s you, oh my God… it’s you.”

Jack nodded, his face contorted in pain and grief.

“What happened to you? Why are you here?”

Jack shook his head.

“You know Ianto, I know you know.”

Ianto kissed him, if only to shut him up.

“I never thought I was going to see you again Jack, we looked for you for so long.”

For a moment they just held each other, until Jack pulled back.

“You… you know about Owen and Gwen and-and now Tosh?”

Ianto nodded and ducked his head.

“We tried to stay together, to help people. But this is bigger than us.”

“After Owen and Gwen were brought in, they showed me their bodies, made me watch them die.”

Ianto chocked on his tears.

“I’m going to die soon.”

“Yes.”

“I’m glad I saw you one last time. There is no one I would rather be with Jack…”

They rested their foreheads together as the doors opened.

“I will always remember.”

Rough hands pulled Ianto away from Jack and out the door, Jack never looked away, never gave up. As the doors closed again the immortal heard himself whisper.

“I love you Ianto Jones…”


End file.
